adminThupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
Five members of the South African-based More Praise Band under Zaoga church, all Zimbabweans, were killed yesterday in Pretoria when the car they were travelling in was involved in a collision with another vehicle on the R21 Highway. The road accident occurred at around 2am near the Nellmapius off-ramp in Irene when the band members’ Honda Ballade collided with a speeding Audi Q7.
The five were travelling from Soshanguvhe to Johannesburg where they were expected to launch their new song, Njanina. The group rose to fame last year with its popular song “Zaoga Yafamba”.
Their bodies are at a private mortuary in Pretoria and police are yet to release their names but it is understood that all of them were in their early 20s.
Sources close to ongoing police investigations indicated that the Honda Ballade and the Audi Q7 were travelling in the same direction and along the way the driver of the Audi tried to overtake, but spotted an oncoming haulage truck.
“He then tried to go back to his lane and as a result he collided with the Honda and drove over it, ripping it into two halves,” said one of the sources.
“Four passengers who were in the Honda were thrown out and died instantly, while the other occupant was trapped under the wreckage.”
ER24 spokesperson Mr Werner Vermaak told journalists that the exact cause of the accident was not known.
“The driver of the Audi escaped with minor injuries and was found pacing around the scene and has been taken to hospital for treatment,” said Mr Vermaak.
The accident comes a week after nine other Zimbabweans were killed when a commuter omnibus they were travelling in collided with a haulage truck near Naboomspruit along the N1 Highway in the same country.
Online Reporter